Page 4 of Welcome to the Table
“What you mean, Jaci is coming home? Why? She needs to stay in New York, where she’s safe.” I loved my city, but she was safer where she was.
Jaci was one of the three women in my life who held the keys to my heart. I was her protector, and it broke a piece of my heart that I had to find this shit out over the phone. This was typical Melph. He always dropped bombs at unexpected times. If something happened to her, the streets would really witness the monster in me.
“You mean stunt like we always do.” Out of the entire conversation, that’s all Hellcat heard.
“Hellcat, did you not just hear Melph say that Jaci was coming home?” I hated when he had selective hearing.
“I heard what he said, but she’s probably already on her way, so what the fuck you want me to say?” he barked.
I was surprised that my sister was coming to the city because she had been gone since graduating from high school to avoid the street shit. Something had to be going on.
“We got it.”
I wanted to press him for a reason why Jaci was coming into town, but I didn’t feel like hearing this nigga’s mouth, and I had shit to do other than sit on the phone with them. I needed to get to Klarity because I knew she was losing her shit, not knowing where I was.
“Hold the fuck up. Why is Jaci coming to the city?”
I knew Hellcat was eventually gon’ process what Melph said. That nigga didn’t have no filter. If he wanted to know the answer to something, he was going to ask. I heard shuffling, and then Athena’s voice came through.
“Calliope, Jaci needs to come to the city. Don’t be upset. It was supposed to be a surprise because she wanted to come home, but Melph had to make it sound like something bad. She misses her brothers and wants to come to y’all.” Her soft voice calmed my enraged heart.
“You act like he's the only one on the phone,” Hellcat boomed.
“Boy, shut yo’ ass up. You and Jaci don’t have the best brother-sister relationship, so I didn’t think you cared.” Her voice changed.
“I love my sister, Ma. It’s your husband I don’t care too much for.”
I laughed. Hellcat didn’t have a filter at all when it came to Melph.
“That will be discussed in person and not over the phone wires.” With that, he disconnected the call.
“What you think this nigga wanna talk about?” Hellcat asked.
“I don’t know, and neither do I care, but I do know it is serious. This nigga always getting into some shit. I just hope it’s about him and not us. About this second line shit, you rolling?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Hellcat lived for the attention the streets gave him. Niggas bowed down to him, and bitches flocked to him like he was God. I didn’t fuck with the attention like that because I was quiet. They barely knew me in the streets. I heard they called me Monsta. I ignored the shit. They didn’t know enough about me to even speak my name. I kept a low profile for a reason. Hellcat got all the attention.
“Yeah, I gotta head to the house and check on some shit, tho. Get dressed and pick up my Spider. You know it’s been a while, so I really gotta put my shit on. Some shit the hood ain’t expecting,” I told him as I stood from my seat.
I threw on a pair of joggers and a white T and stepped into my Jordans. I wanted to be comfortable because I didn’t know what the fuck Klarity would be like when I walked into the house. Outside of my family, she was the only one who knew about the house. Klarity owned my heart, and Hellcat thought I was stupid for fucking with her. They didn’t have the best relationship, and my parents had never met her, only heard of her, but they would meet her at the meeting.
“Nigga, don’t bring sand to the beach. I’m about to get up with Banga and Hollygrove and tell them to pop they shit with us just in case niggas want to talk they shit. You know my Glock speaks for me, and I wanna have a good day before the bullshit,” he said and disconnected the call.
One thing he did say that was the truth; I was bringing sand to the beach, and that sand would be Klarity if she wanted to ride.
The unspoken beef between Hellcat and Klarity always put me in a weird space. Hellcat claimed it wasn’t a coincidence that I just ran into her in Georgia. He also found it weird that she just picked her life up and transferred to the city like it was nothing. I did tell her that I wasn’t leaving without her, but I didn’t think she would leave. I often wondered if she was running away from something, but I pushed that shit to the back of my mind because I wanted her with me. I trusted Hellcat’s instincts, but that time, I chalked it up to him just not liking her personally, but I would find out the reason.
I grabbed my keys and took the elevator to the underground garage. I hopped in my 2025 black Porsche 718 and drove out of the parking lot, heading home. I turned my music on andlet Lil Wayne take my mind off the storm that I knew was brewing inside my family. My mind was in shambles, and that was a first. I was the only level-headed one in the family outside of Athena. She hated when we called her ‘mother’ because she couldn’t believe she had three grown kids. I thought the shit was disrespectful, but she said it wasn’t, so I went with that.
It took me almost an hour to get to the house because my shit was ducked off and heavily guarded. On the outside of the gates, I had around-the-clock men watching my shit. I didn’t trust anybody. I never had family gatherings, parties, or any of that shit at my house because I loved my privacy. It took a while before I let Klarity come to my shit, and I had been fucking with her for the last five years, but I had known her my entire life. I just didn’t trust easily. My home was my peace, and I planned to keep it that way.
My house was located in the Couturte Forest. I had purchased the land and had it fertilized and built just the way I wanted it. Everything, including the gates, was black. I turned down the long road that led to my mansion. I made sure it was built so the master suite faced the sun, and at sunrise and sunset, it would shine on my room. The shit was magical. I drove through the wooded area and took in the scenery. Different flowers adorned the grass. I made sure the gardeners took care of that and paid them a hefty amount to keep shit clean.
I made my way to the gate and rolled the window down to put my face in the camera for the facial recognition. The gate slowly opened, and I heard a slow creaking sound. I had to call my gatekeeper to fix that shit. I rode through the gate and pulled up in my parking spot next to Klarity’s money-green BMW. I begged her to let me buy her the dream car that she talked about, which was a G-Wagon, but she told me no every time. I wanted to surprise her with it, but it was hard to surprise her because she was always with me unless I was handling business.I knew her birthday was coming up, and I would probably do it then, and again, she would refuse it because she was so fucking independent.
I hopped out of the car and made my way to the front door. Then, I put my hand on the pad to grant me access to my home. I loved the peace I felt when I walked into my sanctuary. Some may think it’s gloomy because of the darkness, but that’s how I felt most days. Darkness brought me peace because it was quiet. The black curtains, floors, walls, décor, and staircase gave me a sense of power. My house was the shit.
I took the stairs to the second floor one at a time. I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to walk up on. When I made my way to the bedroom, I half expected her to be waiting for me with her hands in my face, rolling her neck like a snake, but it was quiet. I thought she had left. I walked further into the room toward the bed.
